Framework, the company making modular, upgradeable, and repairable laptops, and DeepComputing, the same company that’s making the DC ROMA II RISC-V laptop we talked about last week, have announced something incredibly cool: a brand new RISC-V mainboard that fits right into existing Framework 13 laptops.
Sporting a RISC-V StarFive JH7110 SoC, this groundbreaking Mainboard was independently designed and developed by DeepComputing. It’s the main component of the very first RISC-V laptop to run Canonical’s Ubuntu Desktop and Server, and the Fedora Desktop OS and represents the first independently developed Mainboard for a Framework Laptop.
↫ The DeepComputing website
For a company that was predicted to fail by a popular Apple spokesperson, it seems Framework is doing remarkably well. This new mainboard is the first one not made by Framework itself, and is the clearest validation yet of the concept put into the market by the Framework team. I can’t recall the last time you could buy a laptop powered by one architecture, and then upgrade to an entirely different architecture down the line, just by replacing the mainboard.
The news of this RISC-V mainboard has made me dream of other possibilities – like someone crazy enough to design, I don’t know, a POWER10 or POWER11 mainboard? Entirely impossible and unlikely due to heat constraints, but one may dream, right?
Cool that Framework is supporting and endorsing this, not fighting copyright on the interface or some such nonsense like you might expect from others. Of course, RISC-V isn’t really a competitor at this point, just a proof of principle and a playground/sandbox for the most adventurous among us — it would be genuinely interesting to see how they would react to a price/performance competitive offering form someone.
This is actually _exactly_ what Framework wants. There’s a reason they’ve put out pretty much all the specs, drawings, embedded controller firmware, etc that they can. They WANT 3rd parties to create hardware for the platform. I don’t think they originally thought mainboards would end up being something, but I’m sure they’re very happy with it and have provided some additional behind the scenes support.
I wonder how long until someone tries to do the new Qualcomm chip mainboard.
My Framework 13 has already been upgraded from 11th gen Intel to AMD 7040 series with a painless mainboard upgrade. I would love to test out a RISC-V mainboard, probably in Coolermaster case first though.
My old 11th gen board is currently acting as a server for docker containers in its second life.
Still hoping for someone to release a classic thinkpad style keyboard-trackpoint-touchpad-with-proper-clicky-buttons combo for the framework.
Not expecting it, but still hoping any ways,
Add me to this list! That would be the final piece to make the Framework perfect for me (Framework 16, in my case).
I never even considered the possibility that Framework laptops would enable radically different components like this. Like, yeah, 3rd party repairs, 3rd party USB modules… But entire drop-in MOBOs with totally different architectures!?! This is wild.
I can’t wait to see tech outlets like Phoronix and LTT to get their hands on this and see what this can do. If nothing else, this really is the first viable way consumers can get their hands on more exotic tech in a consumer-grade form factor.
This is exactly what I’ve been wanting: A RISC-V system with the same build quality and fit-and-finish as any other mainstream laptop. The ones that have come before have been fair to poor build quality, and just really lacked that “I’m here to get shit done and do it efficiently” feeling that Thinkpads and Latitudes and ProBooks exude.
Yes, this really is an excellent vehicle for smaller projects to focus only on their strengths. Can’t wait to see what else happens!
> a popular Apple spokesperson
Love when Thom pokes Gruber
Cool!